Textus Receptus Bibles
Geneva Bible 1560/1599
| 2:1 | Then Salomon determined to builde an house for the Name of the Lord, and an house for his kingdome. |
| 2:2 | And Salomon tolde out seuentie thousand that bare burdens, and fourescore thousande men to hewe stones in the mountaine, and three thousand and sixe hundreth to ouersee them. |
| 2:3 | And Salomon sent to Huram the king of Tyrus, saying, As thou hast done to Dauid my father, and didst sende him cedar trees to buylde him an house to dwell in, so do to me. |
| 2:4 | Behold, I buylde an house vnto the Name of the Lord my God, to sanctifie it vnto him, and to burne sweete incense before him, and for the continuall shewbread, and for the burnt offrings of the morning and euening, on the Sabbath dayes, and in the new moneths, and in the solemne feastes of the Lord our God: this is a perpetuall thing for Israel. |
| 2:5 | And the house which I buylde, is great: for great is our God aboue all gods. |
| 2:6 | Who is he then that can be able to buylde him an house, when the heauen, and the heauen of heauens can not conteine him? who am I then that I should buylde him an house? but I do it to burne incense before him. |
| 2:7 | Sende me nowe therefore a cunning man that can worke in golde, in siluer, and in brasse, and in yron, and in purple, and crimosin and blue silke, and that can graue in grauen worke with the cunning men that are with me in Iudah and in Ierusalem, whom Dauid my father hath prepared. |
| 2:8 | Sende mee also cedar trees, firre trees and Algummim trees from Lebanon: for I knowe that thy seruants can skill to hewe timber in Lebanon: and beholde, my seruantes shalbe with thine, |
| 2:9 | That they may prepare me timber in abundance: for the house which I doe buylde, is great and wonderfull. |
| 2:10 | And behold, I will giue to thy seruants the cutters and the hewers of timber twentie thousand measures of beaten wheate, and twentie thousand measures of barley, and twentie thousand baths of wine, and twentie thousand baths of oyle. |
| 2:11 | Then Huram King of Tyrus answered in writing which he sent to Salomon, Because the Lord hath loued his people, he hath made thee King ouer them. |
| 2:12 | Huram sayd moreouer, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, which made the heauen and the earth, and that hath giuen vnto Dauid the King a wise sonne, that hath discretion, prudence and vnderstanding to buylde an house for the Lord, and a palace for his kingdome. |
| 2:13 | Now therefore I haue sent a wise man, and of vnderstanding of my father Hurams, |
| 2:14 | The sonne of a woman of the daughters of Dan: and his father was a man of Tyrus, and he can skill to worke in golde, in siluer, in brasse, in yron, in stone, and in timber, in purple, in blue silke, and in fine linen, and in crimosin, and can graue in all grauen workes, and broyder in all broydered worke that shalbe giuen him, with thy cunning men, and with the cunning men of my lord Dauid thy father. |
| 2:15 | Now therefore the wheate and the barley, the oyle and the wine, which my lorde hath spoken of, let him send vnto his seruants. |
| 2:16 | And we wil cut wood in Lebanon as much as thou shalt neede, and will bring it to thee in raftes by the sea to Iapho, so thou mayest cary them to Ierusalem. |
| 2:17 | And Salomon nombred al the strangers that were in the land of Israel, after the nombring that his father Dauid had nombred them: and they were found an hundreth and three and fiftie thousand, and sixe hundreth. |
| 2:18 | And he set seuentie thousande of them to the burden, and fourescore thousande to hewe stones in the mountaine, and three thousande and sixe hundreth ouerseers to cause the people to worke. |
Geneva Bible 1560/1599
The Geneva Bible is one of the most influential and historically significant translations of the Bible into English, preceding the King James translation by 51 years. It was the primary Bible of 16th century Protestantism and was the Bible used by William Shakespeare, Oliver Cromwell, John Knox, John Donne, and John Bunyan. The language of the Geneva Bible was more forceful and vigorous and because of this, most readers strongly preferred this version at the time.
The Geneva Bible was produced by a group of English scholars who, fleeing from the reign of Queen Mary, had found refuge in Switzerland. During the reign of Queen Mary, no Bibles were printed in England, the English Bible was no longer used in churches and English Bibles already in churches were removed and burned. Mary was determined to return Britain to Roman Catholicism.
The first English Protestant to die during Mary's turbulent reign was John Rogers in 1555, who had been the editor of the Matthews Bible. At this time, hundreds of Protestants left England and headed for Geneva, a city which under the leadership of Calvin, had become the intellectual and spiritual capital of European Protestants.
One of these exiles was William Whittingham, a fellow of Christ Church at Oxford University, who had been a diplomat, a courtier, was much traveled and skilled in many languages including Greek and Hebrew. He eventually succeeded John Knox as the minister of the English congregation in Geneva. Whittingham went on to publish the 1560 Geneva Bible.
This version is significant because, it came with a variety of scriptural study guides and aids, which included verse citations that allow the reader to cross-reference one verse with numerous relevant verses in the rest of the Bible, introductions to each book of the Bible that acted to summarize all of the material that each book would cover, maps, tables, woodcut illustrations, indices, as well as other included features, all of which would eventually lead to the reputation of the Geneva Bible as history's very first study Bible.